Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-05-21

CIV "taidtiuS thcllSclNcS upon tHe
best season for an all round trade even
known,
THE ToILrNG MASSES.
George X. Scott, in New York Wit
ness: The rich have plenty of friends,
and have no great need Of protection
from those who WELD the pen. They
generally III their rights by law or
otherwise. Consequently, all | have to
say about them is, that | am acquaint-
ed with some rich men who are models
of modesty, generosity and good be-
h~avior. AS they accumulated what
they possess by hard work and
thoughtfulness, l am glad they are SO
comfortably situated. If they have
more than they can carry with ease, |
know one or two who are willing to
divide the care with them.
But it is of and to the toillng masses
that l wish to speak this time.
Thousands of men spend 81 to 81 a
day for mere luxuries. Do they ever
stop to think how the poor working
man, receiving from $3.50 to $3.50 a
day, keeps himself, wife and children
fed and looking NEE? There must t
brains somewhere to accomplish this
feat.
The American mechanics give more
more money to help along religion and
reform movements than any other body
of men, according to their means.
Take, for instance the Methodist and
Catholic churches, whose members, rs
a rule, are composed of the working
classes. What a pile of money is col
lectcd in them! Men, women and
children give! give! giye!! and never
grow weary.
Take the benevolent socities, COM
posed of men whose hands are almost
as hard as leather, and if you look into
the many kindly acts that are daily
being done by them you will be filled
with establishment at their generosity.
In a case of sickness in the family of a
poor man, what happensP Why, kind
n~eighbors spring up like mushrooms to
offer their services, sitting up all night,
if necessary, to administer
to the comfort of the
| sick; and, recoliect, that the watchers
have to 90 to work early the next
morning, for they cannot afford to lose
the money that would be taken from
their wages if absent from their places
Of business. | have known workmen
to sit up every other night with their
sick friends.
An intelligent, thoughtful mechanic
is worthy of study. He works from
early morning until six o'clock in the
evening; goes home, and helps to take
care of the children until his wife has
set the supper table in order. Spends
nearly all the meal hour in feeding
James, Tom, William, Mary, Jane,
and the baby; for il is a fact that poor
people generally have large families,
and the larger they are the more hap
piness abounds. Strange, but true.
After supper he attends to the
''chores;" and after helping to put the
children TO bed says, Mother, don't
You feel tired?" and the two hard
working, worn-out heads of the family
are fast asleep in less than fifteen min
utes.
Once in awhile they enjoy a picnic;
but the anxiety of getting SO many
ready and the wherewithal to accomp-
lish the task makes that also a hard
days work.
Day after day passes into, history,
and the same tread-mill process goes
on. If in the city, the tenement house
is the home of the poor. How they
exist in summertime is a mystery to
me. Yet they do, and the children
look as healthy, if not more so, than
those of the rich. Generally some
kind friend or benevolent institution
sends the children into the country for
a breath of fresh air. Every city ought
to have n fresh-air fund.
1.-The poor We have always with
you," is true. l have watched them
day and night. They may look coarse,
how can it be otherwiseP Yet how
kind! How often have l seen mothers,
after a hard days washing, in order to
earn something to help in adding to
the general fund, walking through on
pLblic parks, with their babes in their
arms. willing to do anything that their
offspring may have at least a few
hreaths of pure air. OF course they
feel tired and worn out, for they are
human. A mother Of a family whose
lot has been cast with a man who can
earn but n scanty subsistence, under
goes more privations than a soldier on
a battle field. Rut what community
ever thinks Of erecting a monument
to honor her heroic struggle. Such
mothers will have to look for their re-
ward in that other country-supposed
TO be above the clouds.
Besides, don't you often wonder how
it is that, as a class, the poer are as
good as they are? How hard il must
be for them to see so many others en-
joying the luxuries of life from which
they are cut off! Is it not natural that
once in a while, a spirit of envy takes
possession of themp Just think of
their condition! Homes, not equal to
some stables for horses; the coarsest
kind of food; their children without
good shoes one-half the time;
NO bnAx,loI~n IS phnro An hon,